When it rains, it pours, for the Boston Bruins. The team finally looked like it was getting back on the right track by winning three of their past four games, but they lost first-line center Elias Lindholm to an injury against the Buffalo Sabres, which will keep him out for at least a couple of weeks. While fans' reactions about Lindholm's impact on the team are a mixed bag, he is integral to their success because of the team's lack of depth.
A silver lining in the Lindholm injury for Bruins fans was that it might force the front office to finally give a player like Matthew Poitras or Georgii Merkulov a look in Boston. While the expectation was that the Bruins would be adding a player to the roster on Friday morning, it looks like Johnny Beecher will slot in to the fourth-line wing spot, and Marat Khusnutdinov will be playing center on the first line between Morgan Geekie and David Pastrnak.
Bruins hoping one forward can build his confidence
You might be wondering how the Bruins can take a player who was a healthy scratch at times last week and insert him onto the first line with two of the NHL's best scorers over the past year. While Khusnutdinov has shown glimpses of why Don Sweeney acquired him, he hasn't completely won over the fanbase.
Nevertheless, he started Thursday night's game on the wing with Lindholm and Pastrnak. After Lindholm's injury, they shifted Khusnutdinov to the middle, where he didn't exactly hurt the team. He actually scored the overtime winner to further justify Marco Sturm's decision to add him to the first line.
It isn't enough to win over the opinion of his new head coach. He has to have a certain level of trust from his teammates to put him in such an important role, and it looks like he has already done that with the most important player on the Bruins' roster.
""There’s a reason you got promoted to this line. Your game got you here. So just play your game. I will adjust to you, you don’t have to adjust to me.""David Pastrnak
No Bruins fan wants to see Khusnutdinov be the long-term solution at first-line center. It's just another example of how unprepared the front office was for this season. With the Providence Bruins lighting up the AHL right now, it looks like they would prefer to keep the lineup down there intact.